Azkaban
by Opheliaemortal
Summary: An insider's view of the infamous wizarding prison and the horrific effects that it has on it's captives.


Azkaban Prison, a solid fortress jutting out of the sea as if the devil himself pushed it up through the crust of the Earth in request of all those that would belong to him. It sits surrounded by jagged rock, with razor sharp cliffs daring anyone to attempt a decent, begging for them to spill there blood upon the icy bedrock bellow. The sea surrounding Azkaban despises the dismal fortress and spends it's time hatefully bludgeoning the cliffs in fruitless attempts to drag it under the freezing frothy waves to be hidden from the eyes of God.

Here you can find them, all manor of criminals and lunatics, felons and murderers, evildoers and the perverse of mind. They are all here in numbers grasped within the clutches of this penitentiary, incarcerated until the day of their death when they will be burned to ash and set free to the blasting winds. That's as much as anyone in the Wizarding World knows of the mysterious prison that keeps them all safe from the tormented and deranged miscreants that are sentenced to a life of purgatory in the hollow heart of Azkaban.

Inside is stagnant darkness, the only light is from the four high guard towers where the only wizards, aside from the convicts caged there, keep a watchful eye on the proceedings of the ruling force of Azkaban, the Dementors.

Dementors do not see they sense. They feel there way knowing every prisoner's terrifying and crumbling mind lingering to take silent pleasure in the terror that their draining presence caused on these lost souls. There are certain places though that even the Dementors don't seem to appreciate with in the damp walls of Azkaban. No one can say just why only speculate that maybe even Dementors cannot cope with the minds of what the Ministry of Magic have deemed to be the "criminally insane" high security prisoners of Azkaban.

It's a short dark corridor just off the main cellblock where even the bravest of Aurors are hard pressed to venture when the need arises to look in on one of these depraved villains. Here they stew in the shadows and haunting memories of their pasts, nothing but towering stone walls to captivate their attention. There she sits in quiet torment, rarely a noise uttered from her lips. Like a cobra captive at a zoo she lays completely still for days and then she is suddenly gone, having lurked silently to her corner where with the help of her dark robes and ebony hair she is all but hidden from sight save the glint of her menacing eyes.

The Dementors never seemed to waste their time on this one even when she was first brought in to Azkaban shackled and chained straight from her sentencing at the Ministry. She had been so young and proud holding her head up in silence as her comrades were dragged further down the cellblock to meet there own fate. She stood strong and defiant her jaw set in utter disdain a striking contrast to the blond boy at her side crumpled in tears of horror barely able to stand.

"I can't believe this is happening." The boy sobbed, his overgrown curly blond hair wild and matted clinging to the tears spilling over his sun kissed checks. "This wasn't supposed to happen, I can't stay here, I can't!" He said now pulling on the chains connecting him to the dark haired girl kneeling at her feet as the Dementors began to hover around him once again. 

"Back-off you fiends! Get! Get back! We won't have ya lettin um off that easy." Came a gruff crackling voice from behind them. A very short round wizard with inky bulging eyes and a scraggly graying beard stepped forward waving what seemed to be a glowing stick emitting a silvery vapor. The squat little wizard came to rest in front of Barty Crouch, Jr. with a wide smile.

"Bit scared are we young master? Well nothin to worry bout, I won't let them tear out your sole…not yet." The little man broke in to fits of hoarse hacking laughter as Barty began to tremble, his eyes wide and still pouring tears.

"Get up Barty! You're only making things worse. I swear that I will kill you myself if you don't stop your whining!" The girl said as she pulled roughly at the chains forcing Barty to stand and then turning her cool gaze on the little ugly wizard, his thick tongue moistening his rough chapped lips around one remaining mossy tooth in his mouth. He spoke as he began to disconnect the massive chains tying the two young convicts together.

"You'd do well to listen to the lady here, only so much I can do to keep this lot back and you've got um in quite an uproar…I mean it's not everyday that we have guests the likes of you two in our midst." The little man chuckled gripping up Barty's chains and pulling him towards a cell with a thick iron door again holding out the vapor wand and swishing it in the air living trails in the darkness and causing the crowd of Dementors to swarm away.

"I said get back ya bloody monsters!" There was a low haunting moan that would come from the creatures like a bullhorn only so deep that when it entered the ear it caused eardrums to vibrate and spines to tremble._13 inches thick_, she thought to herself as the door was slammed shut on Barty's hysterical cries eliciting painful laughter from the little guard once more and causing the Dementors to converge on the cell leaving the little man free of them to guild the girl to her cell further down the corridor. She stood as the little man opened the sealed door to the cell and felt the faintest prickle on the back of her neck as she heard an almost silent whisper.

"Bella?" She turned an uneasy, unsuspecting gaze to see a set of eyes peering out from the cell next to her. Her heart stopped for a moment as her lips parted releasing a small gasp, then the chains began to clank as the guard thrust her forward.

"Here we are Mrs. Lestrange so sorry we were unable to fit you in accommodations closer to your husband but Ministry orders." 

The little man grinned with pride at what he apparently thought would upset Bellatrix Lestrange as he slammed the heavy door shut and sealed it, then banging the vapor wand hard on the cold door he yelled at the Dementors.

"Come on, over here! This ones as rotten as they come, if ya drain that boy to quickly he'll be no more fun for ya." But the Dementors kept a good distance from Bellatrix and no one understood this aside from her.


End file.
